ON STOCKING LAKES AND RIVERS WITH FISH. 683 



gen, occupied the first year with young fish, if such ponds are used as 

 the ones in Peitz. If, as I propose, the open waters shall be used for 

 the complete development of the young fish, the fact must be taken into 

 account that our lakes and rivers contain fish of prey, and that, because 

 they cannot be drained, they can never become so entirely exhausted as 

 the ponds. The open waters can, therefore, not be stocked as fully as 

 the "Abwaclisteiclie" (ponds where the fish reach their full size) with- 

 out running the risk of crowding them too much, particularly as the 

 increase of the carp in the open water must be taken into account. 

 I would, therefore, propose that ponds used for raising two-year-old 

 carp for the market should every year stock an area ten times their size, 

 believing that such an area will then get its full supply of fish. 



If, for instance,- the Wittingau lakes in Bohemia, which have an area 

 of 15,043 acres, were to be used for restocking the open waters with fish, 

 150,430 acres would have to be completely stocked every year, and in 

 ten years 100 German square miles of water would be fully supplied 

 with fish. 



All our waters could doubtless reach the highest degree of product- 

 iveness in a few years, if we were to raise two-year-old carp in our 

 ponds, and let the open waters take the place of the ponds where the 

 fish reach their full size. 



That the owners of ponds would be fully repaid for their trouble will 

 be evident from the following instance : On the estate of Baron von 

 Eothschild, iu Upper Silesia, 2 to 3 feet deep puddles in the villages 

 are used as ponds for raising two-year-old carp for stocking-purposes, 

 and are drained every year. These ponds, by the sale of such two-year- 

 old carp, yield annually a net profit of 150 Mark (about $37.50) per 

 Morgen. They yield, consequently, ten times as much as good carp- 

 ponds, in which fish are raised for the table, and more than the best 

 arable land. An owner of ponds can, therefore, best increase his income 

 by favoring as much as possible the production of two-year-old carp for 

 stocking-purposes. 



As many proprietors of fisheries fear that it would be difficult to catch 

 carp in the open water, I can assure them, from personal experience, 

 that if the waters are well stocked, large quantities of fish can be caught 

 with the different nets, both in winter and summer. 



In accordance with the above, 1 Morgen would have to be stocked 

 with about sixty two-year-old carp. 



